Mistreatment of Children in the Armed Conflicts

• Main Author: Toni Petreski
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Philosophy, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje 2016-06-01
• Series: Bezbednosni Dijalozi
• Subjects: children-warriors; armed conflicts; poverty; rehabilitation
• Online Access: http://periodica.fzf.ukim.edu.mk/sd/SD%2007.1%20(2016)/SD%2007.1.08%20%20Petreski,%20T.%20%E2%80%93%20Mistreatment%20of%20Children%20in%20the%20Armed%20Conflicts.pdf

Through history, in many countries with different cultures, the children have been abused and have been forced to engage in a conflict because of poverty, or their parents have sold them the inability to feed them, but most of them are either kidnapped or manipulated in order to join the terrorists. In the previous century, a great number of international conventions became effective in order to restrict children`s involvement in armed conflicts. The most important convention is the Geneva Convention, a convention adopted on August 12, 1949. It clearly states that both sides in the conflict must take all measures of not recruiting children who have not turned 15 years of age and must not be involved directly in the conflict. In this paper, we will analyze and see if these conventions are respected and how are implemented.